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kings-notebook · 3 years

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After getting my first round of ideas down I’ve finaly gotten round to the first thing i should have done for this tast, researching imps.

Bit of a backwards kind of student arnt I?

Imps originated in Germanic folktales and were ‘lesser goblins’.They eventualy became a part of english tales which is when they got the name ‘Imp’ which comes from the word ympa, or ‘‘offshot of a tree’. This name was given to them as there were usaly seen as lesser beings and usaly working for something of higher power. During these times Imps were seen as mischivies triksters and pranksters. They were attention seekers, loving to be in the lime light whic they wish to gain from their jokes. However, due to them being seen as unsignificant and lowly, this did not usaly go their way. Except in the case of a greater evil force who will take them on as slaves.

Imps are said to look small and boney and unattractive, said to look more like cats or monkeys than humans, with snout rather than noses and a tendancy to walk on all fours than upright on two. They have stone like faces, large ears and horns, paw like hands and leathery bat like wings. Their skin can range in colour, from red and purple, to stone like grey. Its common to see their faces twisted into smirks or grimmaces and they walk with a hunch. Sometimes that can become attached to a object like a bottle or staff. In wich case its posible for them to exist in a spirit like form rather than a physical one

During the Christianization of west Europe Imps turned from insignificant attention seeking pranksters to Satans foot soldiers. Unfortunalty during the Witch hunts of the renassance age ‘’Imps’‘ were hunted along side Witches. As Witches were seen as working under the devil, Imps were said to take the shape of a black cat or toad when under the service of a Witch. These theorys no doubt lead to the villanication of these animals and lead to more people being put on trial due to them having these animals as pets, or even having a inffestation of pest. Some people were even put on trial as they looked ‘‘impish’‘

Due to their stone like appirance and their links to Christianity they were often used in architecture for cathidrals, joining gargoils in leering down at the crowds in mass. Their also used often in old fairy tails, it was common for goblanoid or fairie creatures to be written about due to their mischivieus behavious.

A story called ‘The Bottle Imp’ was written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1891 which is a bit of a monkey paw type story, telling the tale of a poor native hawaiian boy buying a magic bottle which is said to contain a imp that grants wishes. The bottle has a list of rules that come with it and the boy finds that though it grants wishes they come with a price, for example wishing for a mansion and land, getting it, but finding that this is due to his uncle and cousins duying in a boating accident and leaving him the soul heir. I think this story in intersting in paticular as it does something i really enjoy with how old folk tales are interprited, buy using ALL THE HISTORY. The imp is mischievies by messing with the wish makes to get their wishes. ‘Sure ill give you money, but haha, its cos your families dead’ theirs reson to believe its a attention seeker as the bottle has a bunch of rules and history around it meaning it will most likly always be on the market. Patictarly the idea that if the bottle has not been sold to someone else and the owner dies the owners sould will be damed to hell, meaning people who own the bottle will want to keep it in circulation due to the fear of hell, meaning the imp will always have attention. And finaly theirs the obvious links to hell and the idea of it working under satan

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I did not mean for this to turn into a book analisis...oops

From this research i’ve found that elements of my design for Toothpick work well for imps history, such as the large ears, the way im designing their legs give them a bit of a hunched stance, them being seen as a nucance due to their tendancy to steal and being seen as kind of a lowly creature as they live out in the desert rather than among people. Other elements, like me wanting Toothpick to look cute rather than a imps classic unpleasant and imps commonly having wings do not. When i do my next round of consept sketching i want use classic designs of imps as refrence. Thinking about how they are possed mostly. Id also like to think about how maybe other imps in this setting might look. If imps are mostly meant to be melisious trickersters then Toothpick is a outlier in that situation. What would a more evil desert imp look like? and how can i change how theyd look to inspire Toothpick

#Character Design Uni

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